Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-m42fx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-19T03:10:47.304Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Modernity and Its Fallen Languages: Tanpιnar's Hasret, Benjamin's Melancholy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

Nergis Ertürk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A comparative study of the politics and theory of language in the writings of Ahmet Hamdi Tanpιnar and Walter Benjamin, this article suggests that a rethinking of the discursive commensurability and incommensurability of modern Turkish language and literature with western European representational practices has crucial implications for critical comparative methodology today. I leave behind conventional accounts based on models of European literary influence, emphasizing instead changes in writing practices that accompanied the development of modern literature and comparatism. Of particular significance for my analysis are the intensification of print culture and language reforms. I examine Tanpιnar's writings as a special archive registering the problematic of representational writing, while exploring their continuities and discontinuities with Benjamin's work. I configure an alternative critical comparative framework, troubling the uneven epistemological categories of modernity through which “East” and “West” continue to structure even the transnationalist critical discourse that interrogates them.

Type
Cluster on Turkey
Information
PMLA , Volume 123 , Issue 1 , January 2008 , pp. 41 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 by The Modern Language Association of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Haşim, Ahmet. “Harf İnkιlâbι.” İkdam 22 Nov. 1928. Rpt. in Yorulmaz 314–15.Google Scholar
Haşim, Ahmet. “Lisan İmarι.” İkdam 3 Dec. 1928. Rpt. in Yorulmaz 317–18.Google Scholar
Akyιldιz, Ali. Osmanlι Finans Sisteminde Dönüm Noktasι: Kağιt Para ve Sosyo-Ekonomik Etkileri. Beyoğlu, Turk.: Eren, 1996.Google Scholar
Benedict, Anderson. The Spectre of Comparisons: Nationalism, Southeast Asia, and the World. New York: Verso, 1998.Google Scholar
Andrews, Walter G. An Introduction to Ottoman Poetry. Minneapolis: Bibliotheca Islamica, 1976.Google Scholar
Andrews, Walter G. Poetry's Voice, Society's Song: Ottoman Lyric Poetry. Seattle: U of Washington P, 1995.Google Scholar
Emily, Apter. “Comparative Exile: Competing Margins in the History of Comparative Literature.” Comparative Literature in the Age of Multiculturalism. Ed. Bernheimer, Charles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1995. 86–96.Google Scholar
Emily, Apter. The Translation Zone: A New Comparative Literature. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2006.Google Scholar
Atis, Sara Moment. Semantic Structuring in the Modern Turkish Short Story: An Analysis of“ The Dreams of Abdullah Efendi” and Other Short Stories by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpιnar. Leiden: Brill, 1983.Google Scholar
Erich, Auerbach. Letter to Walter Benjamin. 3 Jan. 1937. Letter 10 of “Scholarship in Times of Extremes: Letters of Eric Auerbach (1933–46), on the Fiftieth Anniversary of His Death.” Introd. and trans. Martin Elsky, Martin Vialon, and Robert Stein. PMLA 122 (2007): 750–51.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. “Die Aufgabe des Übersetzers.” Benjamin, Illuminationen 50–62.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. “A Berlin Chronicle.” Benjamin, Reflections 3–60.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. “Berliner Chronik.” Gesammelte Schriften VI. Ed. Rolf Tiedemann and Hermann Schweppenhäuser. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1985. 465–519.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. “Der Erzähler.” Benjamin, Illuminationen 385–410.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. Gesammelte Schriften. Ed. Tiedemann, Rolf and Schweppenhäuser, Hermann. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1977.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. Illuminationen. Ed. Unseld, Siegfried. 1955. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1974.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. Illuminations. Ed. and introd. Arendt, Hannah. Trans. Harry Zohn. New York: Schocken, 1968.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. “The Image of Proust.” Benjamin, Illuminations 201–16.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. “Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit.” Benjamin, Illuminationen 136–69.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. Letter to Erich Auerbach. 21 Dec. 1936. Letter 9 of “Scholarship in Times of Extremes: Letters of Erich Auerbach (1933–46), on the Fiftieth Anniversary of His Death.” Introd. and trans. Martin Elsky, Martin Vialon, and Robert Stein. PMLA 122 (2007): 749–50.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. “On Language as Such and on the Language of Man.” Benjamin, Reflections 314–32.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. “On Some Motifs in Baudelaire.” Benjamin, Illuminations 155–200.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. “On the Mimetic Faculty” Benjamin, Reflections 333–36.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. The Origin of German Tragic Drama. Trans. John Osborne. London: Verso, 1985.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. Reflections: Essays, Aphorisms, Autobiographical Writing. Trans. Edmund Jephcott. Ed. and introd. Peter Demetz. 1978. New York: Schocken, 1986.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. “The Storyteller.” Benjamin, Illuminations 83–109.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. “The Task of the Translator.” Benjamin, Illuminations 69–82.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. “Über das mimetische Vermögen.” Benjamin, Gesammelte Schriften, Vol. 2, pt. 1, 210–13.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. “Über einige Motive bei Baudelaire.” Benjamin, Illuminationen 185–229.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. “Über Sprache überhaupt und über die Sprache des Menschen.” Benjamin, Gesammelte Schriften, Vol. 2, pt. 1, 140–57.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. Ursprung des deutschen Trauerspiels. 1963. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1972.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Benjamin, Illuminations 217–52.Google Scholar
Walter, Benjamin. “Zum Bilde Prousts.” Benjamin, Illuminationen 335–48.Google Scholar
Partha, Chatterjee. “Anderson's Utopia.” Culler and Cheah, Grounds 161–70.Google Scholar
Culler, Jonathan, and Cheah, Pheng, eds. Grounds of Comparison: Around the Work of Benedict Anderson. New York: Routledge, 2003.Google Scholar
Culler, Jonathan, and Cheah, Pheng, eds. Preface. Culler and Cheah, Grounds vii–ix.Google Scholar
de Man, Paul. “The Epistemology of Metaphor.” Critical Inquiry 5 (1978): 13–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Demiralp, Oğuz. Kutup Noktasι. Istanbul: YKY, 1993.Google Scholar
Jacques, Derrida. Of Grammatology. Trans. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1998.Google Scholar
Evin, Ahmet Ö. Origins and Development of the Turkish Novel. Minneapolis: Bibliotheca Islamica, 1983.Google Scholar
Walter, Feldman. “Time, Memory and Autobiography in The Clock-Setting Institute of Ahmet Hamdi Tanpιnar.” Edebiyât: The Journal of Middle Eastern Literatures 8 (1998): 37–61.Google Scholar
Finn, Robert P. The Early Turkish Novel, 1872–1900. Istanbul: Isis, 1984.Google Scholar
Michel, Foucault. Les mots et les choses: Une archéologie des sciences humaines. Paris: Gallimard, 1966.Google Scholar
Michel, Foucault. The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. New York: Vintage, 1994.Google Scholar
Göknar, Erdağ. “Ottoman Past and Turkish Future: Ambivalence in A. H. Tanpιnar's Those outside the Scene.” Irzιk and Güzeldere 647–61.Google Scholar
Gürbilek, Nurdan. “Kurumuş Pιnar, Kör Ayna, Kayιp Şark.” Kör Ayna, Kayιp Şark. Istanbul: Metis, 2004. 97–138.Google Scholar
Gürbilek, Nurdan. Yer Değiştiren Gölge: Denemeler. Beyoğlu, Turk.: Metis Yayιnlarι, 1995.Google Scholar
Beatrice, Hanssen. “Language and Mimesis in Walter Benjamin's Work.” The Cambridge Companion to Walter Benjamin. Ed. Ferris, David S. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004. 54–72.Google Scholar
Harry, Harootunian. “Ghostly Comparisons.” Culler and Cheah, Grounds 171–90.Google Scholar
Harry, Harootunian. “Some Thoughts on Comparability and the Space-Time Problem.” Harootunian and Park 23–52.Google Scholar
Harootunian, Harry, and Park, Hyun Ok, eds. Problems of Comparability / Possibilities for Comparative Studies. Spec. issue of Boundary 2 32.2 (2005): 1–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Victoria, Holbrook. The Unreadable Shores of Love: Turkish Modernity and Mystic Romance. Austin: U of Texas P, 1994.Google Scholar
İrem, Nazim. “Undercurrents of European Modernity and the Foundations of Modern Turkish Conservatism: Bergsonism in Retrospect.” Middle Eastern Studies 40.4 (2004): 79–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Irzιk, Sibel, and Güzeldere, Güven, eds. Relocating the Fault Lines: Turkey beyond the East-West Divide. Spec. issue of South Atlantic Quarterly 102.2–3 (2003): 283–666.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, Jusdanis. Belated Modernity and Aesthetic Culture: Inventing National Literature. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1991.Google Scholar
Kasaba, Reşat. The Ottoman Empire and the World Economy: The Nineteenth Century. Albany: State U of New York P, 1988.Google Scholar
Kazancιgil, Ali, and Özbudun, Ergun, eds., Atatürk: The Founder of a Modern State. Hamden: Archon, 1981.Google Scholar
Keyder, Çağlar. State and Class in Turkey: A Study in Capitalist Development. New York: Verso, 1987.Google Scholar
Geoffrey, Lewis. The Turkish Language Reform: A Catastrophic Success. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999.Google Scholar
Karl, Marx. Capital 1: A Critique of Political Economy. Trans. Ben Fowkes. New York: Penguin, 1992.Google Scholar
Karl, Marx. Das Kapital 1: Kritik der politischen Okonomie. Cologne: Parkland, 2001.Google Scholar
McLuhan, Marshall. The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of the Typographic Man. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1962.Google Scholar
Timothy, Mitchell, ed. Questions of Modernity. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2000.Google Scholar
Timothy, Mitchell, ed. “The Stage of Modernity.” Mitchell, Questions 1–34.Google Scholar
Morris, Rosalind C. In the Place of Origins: Modernity and Its Mediums in Northern Thailand. Durham: Duke UP, 2000.Google Scholar
Mufti, Aamir R. “Auerbach in Istanbul: Edward Said, Secular Criticism, and the Question of Minority Culture.” Edward Said and the Work of the Critic: Speaking Truth to Power. Ed. Bové, Paul A. Durham: Duke UP, 2000. 229–56.Google Scholar
Süha, Oğuzertem. “Fictions of Narcissism: Metaphysical and Psychosexual Conflicts in the Stories of Ahmet Hamdi Tanpιnar.” Turkish Studies Association Bulletin 14.2 (1990): 223–33.Google Scholar
Pamuk, Şevket. A Monetary History of the Ottoman Empire. New York: Cambridge UP, 2000.Google Scholar
Jale, Parla. Babalar ve Oğullar: Tanzimat Romanιnιn Epistemolojik Temelleri. Istanbul: İletişim, 1990.Google Scholar
Ekrem, Recâizâde Mahmut. Araba Sevdasι. Istanbul: Âlem Matbaasι, 1896.Google Scholar
Hüseyin, Sadoğlu. Türkiye'de Ulusçuluk ve Dil Politikalarι. Istanbul: Bilgi İletişim Grubu, 2003.Google Scholar
Edward, Said. The World, the Text, and the Critic. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1983.Google Scholar
Tanpιnar, Ahmet Hamdi. “Antalyalι Genç Kιza Mektup.” Seçmeler. Ed. Batur, Enis. Istanbul: Yapι Kredi Yayιnlarι, 1992. 20–24.Google Scholar
Tanpιnar, Ahmet Hamdi. Beş Şehir. Ankara: Ülkü, 1946.Google Scholar
Tanpιnar, Ahmet Hamdi. Beş Şehir. 2nd ed. 1960. Istanbul: Milli Eğitim Basιmevi, 1972.Google Scholar
Tanpιnar, Ahmet Hamdi. “İstanbul'un Mevsimleri ve Sanatlarιmιz.” Yaşadιğιm Gibi. Ed. Emil, Birol. Istanbul: Türkiye Kültür Enstitüsü, 1970. 111–32.Google Scholar
Tanpιnar, Ahmet Hamdi. Ondokuzuncu Asιr Türk Edebiyatι Tarihi. Beyoğlu, Turk.: Çağlayan Kitabevi, 1967.Google Scholar
Tanpιnar, Ahmet Hamdi. “Türk Edebiyatι'nda Cereyanlar.” Edebiyat Üzerine Makaleler. Ed. Kerman, Zeynep. Istanbul: Milli Eğitim Basιmevi, 1969. 102–31.Google Scholar
John, Waterman. A History of the German Language. Seattle: U of Washington P, 1966.Google Scholar
Yorulmaz, Hüseyin, ed. Tanzimat'tan Cumhuriyet'e Alfabe Tartιşmasι. Cağaloğlu, Turk.: Kitabevi, 1995.Google Scholar